"The Duel Giant", known as "King Goblin of the Dark Night" in the Japanese version, is the sixteenth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. It first aired in Japan on January 19, 2005 and in the United States on November 15, 2005.

Contents

Summary

It's night at Duel Academy, and an Obelisk Blue student has just lost to a giant of a man, who takes the student's rarest card for winning. He tells him to learn from this experience, and walks off. The next day, Chumley Huffington relates a rumor to Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale about a large Duelist who is being the card "The Duel Giant", who has been challenging Obelisk Blue students to Ante Duels in the dead of night. Dr. Crowler approaches them, and tells them he's giving them a special assignment to investigate the Duel Giant incident. They pay a visit to the Duel Arena, where an Obelisk Blue student is Dueling a small Ra Yellow student. The Obelisk has a Set card, 200 Life Points and "Marauding Captain" on the field, while the Ra has 300 Life Points and "Mad Sword Beast". Jaden can spot "Earthquake" in the Ra's hand, which should allow him to win the Duel. However, he cannot make up his mind whether to play it first, or simply attack. After some chiding from his opponent to hurry up, he attacks. The opponent activates his face-down "Reinforcements", giving "Marauding Captain" 500 more attack points and the win. Bastion Misawa comments that the students name is Brier and he's a very good Duelist, but seems to suffer from a bad case of stage fright, which causes him to make mistakes. Brier departs the arena, and is seen with a much larger Ra, who Bastion calls Beauregard. Syrus suspects he may be the Duel Giant simply due to his size, but Bastion reveals that he's at the Academy to become a game designer.

Jaden chases them though, and accuses Beauregard of being the Duel Giant. Brier states he isn't, and the two depart. That night, the three hide outside the school and wait. They hear a scream, and run into the forest, finding the same Obelisk that Brier lost to, who has just lost to the Duel Giant. Jaden tracks the Giant down, and challenges him, even agreeing to ante "Winged Kuriboh". The Giant begins by Summoning "Giant Orc" in Attack Position, while Jaden plays "Winged Kuriboh" in Defense Position. The former then destroys the latter, but is also force to shift to Defense Position. However, the Giant Summons "Second Goblin" and equips it to "Giant Orc", allowing it to go back into Attack Position. Jaden plays "Polymerization", fusing "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix" and "Elemental Hero Clayman" to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster", using her effect to attack directly while halving her attack while she is in Defense Position. This attack blows off The Giant's costume, which consists of tattered Obelisk Blue jackets, to reveal Beauregard. However, Jaden calls for the true Duelist to come out. Brier climbs out from behind a nearby rock, where he can been giving Beauregard instructions via headset. The two had teamed up to get back at the Obelisks who would always make fun of them - Brier for his short stature, and Beauregard for his weight. Because he wasn't Dueling directly, Brier's true abilities were able to shine through, and he won every Duel the Duel Giant had, in contrast to when he Duels in person and loses due to nervousness. Jaden convinces them to continue the Duel.

Beauregard still wears the Duel Disk, but Brier gives him orders in the open, not via headset. He Summons "Goblin King" and then discards "Warrior Dai Grepher" and "Big Shield Gardna" in order to Special Summon two "Half Goblins" via their own effects. "Goblin King" gains 1000 attack points for every face-up Fiend-type monster on the field, besides itself, so it's attack is currently 3000. "Goblin King" destroys "Rampart Blaster", while "Giant Orc" attacks directly, switching to Defense Position. "Second Goblin" switches "Giant Orc" back to Attack Position. Jaden draws, and plays "Pot of Greed" to draw two more cards. He Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" and equips him with "Spark Blaster", which he then uses to switch "Giant Orc" to Defense Position and the two "Half Goblins" to Attack Position. He then activates "The Warrior Returning Alive", to return "Clayman" to his hand, before playing "Polymerization" to fuse him with "Sparkman", Fusion Summoning "Elemental Hero Thunder Giant". He uses its effect to destroy "Giant Orc", with the equipped "Second Goblin" also being destroyed. He attacks and destroys a "Half Goblin" and then plays "De-Fusion" to split "Thunder Giant" and Special Summon "Clayman" and "Sparkman", who attack and destroy the second "Half Goblin" and "Goblin King", winning Jaden the Duel. Beauregard begs Jaden to only turn him in, and leave Brier out of it. However, Jaden states he's not turning either of them in. However, this means they still have homework to do. Crowler questions how they Duel Giant could just disappear, and how all the cards stolen from the Obelisk Blue students could suddenly be returned.

Turn 3: Duel Giant
Duel Giant draws. "Giant Orc" attacks and destroys "Winged Kuriboh". Since "Giant Orc" attacked, it is switched to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase via its own effect. The Duel Giant then Normal Summons "Second Goblin" (100/100) in Attack Position. He then activates the effect of "Second Goblin", equipping it onto "Giant Orc". While "Second Goblin" is equipped, "Giant Orc" can switch its battle position once per turn. The Duel Giant then activates the second effect of "Second Goblin" immediately to switch "Giant Orc" to Attack Position.

Since "Rampart Blaster" is in face-up Defense Position, Jaden uses the effect of "Rampart Blaster" to let it attack directly, however its ATK is halved during damage calculation ("Rampart Blaster": 2000 → 1000/2500). The attacks hits the Duel Giant (Duel Giant 4000 → 3000). At this point, it is revealed that the Duel Giant was really Beauregard and that Brier was assisting him from behind a rock. After damage calculation, the ATK of "Rampart Blaster" returns to its original value ("Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster": 1000 → 2000/2500).

Turn 5: Beauregard
Beauregard's hand contains two "Half Goblins", "Warrior Dai Grepher", "Big Shield Gardna" and "The Shallow Grave". Beauregard draws "Goblin King" and subsequently Normal Summons (0/0) it in Attack Position. He then Special Summons two "Half Goblins" (500/500 each) from his hand in Defense Position by discarding "Warrior Dai Grepher" and "Big Shield Gardna". The ATK and DEF of "Goblin King" increases by 1000 for every other Fiend-Type monster on the field. There are three, so it gains 3000 ATK and DEF ("Goblin King": 0 → 3000/0 → 3000). "Goblin King" attacks and destroys "Rampart Blaster". "Giant Orc" attacks directly (Jaden 4000 → 1800). Since "Giant Orc" attacked, it is switched to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. Beauregard then activates the second effect of "Second Goblin" to switch "Giant Orc" to Attack Position.

Turn 6: Jaden
Jaden draws "Pot of Greed" and subsequently activates it to draw two cards. Jaden Normal Summons "Elemental Hero Sparkman" (1600/1400) in Attack Position. He then activates "Spark Blaster", equiping it to "Sparkman". Now, during each of Jaden's Main Phases, he can use the effect of "Spark Blaster" to switch the battle position of one monster on the field. If Jaden uses this effect three times, "Spark Blaster" will be destroyed. Jaden then activates the effect of "Spark Blaster" three times to switch both "Half Goblins" to Attack Position and "Giant Orc" to Defense Position. After doing all that, "Spark Blaster" is destroyed.

Jaden then activates "The Warrior Returning Alive" to return "Clayman" from his Graveyard to his hand. Jaden activates "Polymerization" to fuse "Sparkman" with "Clayman" in order to Fusion Summon "Elemental Hero Thunder Giant" (2400/1500) in Attack Position. The effect of "Thunder Giant" then activates, allowing Jaden to destroy "Giant Orc". ("Goblin King": 3000/3000 → 2000/2000).

In the Japanese version, Cronos offers Judai exemption from a Duel theory report in exchange for identifying the giant. In the dub, Crowler offers to allow Jaden to be exempt from homework for the rest of the year.

The dub cuts a scene, which shows Ohara and Kohara in their dorm room, looking over all the cards they've won in the Ante Duels.

The scene where Jaden puts up his Winged Kuriboh as his Ante is shortened in the dub. In the original, he explained he got this card from Yugi Moto, and as such is a rare card. Syrus is surprised/protests that Jaden would bargain "such a rare card", while Chumley reflects that there's nothing to be done "when Jaden is serious like this". The dub cuts the scene right after Jaden holds up Winged Kuriboh, omitting the fact that Jaden and Co. are aware that he got the card from (and subsequently met) the King of Games.

In the Japanese version, at the start of his Duel with the disguised giant, Judai notes that his opponent is devoid of any eagerness or other such energy that all Duelists feel. This lets him guess that the true Duel Giant is operating from a distance. The dub doesn't use this explanation.

In the Japanese version, Judai claims to Cronos that they were unable to find the giant, while in the dub, he claims he found him and beat him, but he escaped before Jaden could identify him.

Errors

Before Jaden uses Pot of Greed to draw 2 cards, his hand consists of Elemental HERO Sparkman, Elemental HERO Bubbleman, and The Warrior Returning Alive. However, on that same turn, he plays 3 new cards consisting of Spark Blaster, Polymerization, and De-Fusion. While he could have drawn 2 of the 3, he could not have had the third card, as Pot of Greed could only allow him to draw 2 cards.

It could be possible that it was Bubbleman that was changed into one of the 3 cards so that Jaden's strategy could be utilized.

Featured cards

The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.